Schools around the country will face difficulty recruiting volunteers for boards of management as a result of cutbacks in funding for training, school managers have said.
According to Mr George O'Callaghan of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents the majority of school managers here, schools are extremely reliant on such volunteers in order to fulfil their obligations under the Education Act 1998.
However, the decision by the Department of Education not to provide any funds for training for these boards in 2004 may leave boards open to future litigation, as a result of lack of awareness of their responsibilities. "There is an element of training and development they need," Mr O'Callaghan said. "It has become a very complex and very serious role and the commitment in terms of time can be significant.
"However, in the absence of resources for training, it is becoming more and more difficult to source people for boards of management," he said. "They need training and ongoing development in order to give them confidence in the work they are doing." In a letter to the Department of Education, Mr O'Callaghan stresses that the establishment of boards of management is a requirement of the Education Act.
"The JMB will be forced to charge the participant schools in order to be able to continue to supply the service," he said. "A clear outcome of this approach will be a diminution in the number attending such courses."
A spokesman for the Department of Education said it was conscious of the issues raised by Mr O'Callaghan. They were, he said, currently under consideration with a view to providing some funding for training in 2004.